ARTICLE BLOG

The Great Barrier Reef is over 2300km long and dotted with some amazing dive destinations. However, there is one part of the reef that is very special to me and that I keep returning to year after year, the outstanding Ribbon Reefs.

The Ribbon Reefs are a string of barrier reefs, north of Cairns, that stretch for over 100km. Numbered one to ten, these reefs have beautiful coral gardens, sloping walls and spectacular pinnacles for divers to explore and are famous for abundant fishes, potato cod and dwarf minke whales in winter. Beyond the Ribbon Reefs, deep in the Coral Sea, Osprey Reef offers very different diving, with oversized corals, sheer walls and incredible shark encounters. Combining these two on a liveaboard trip and you get some of the most outstanding diving in the world.

One vessel that regularly visits this area is the wonderful Spoilsport, operated by Mike Ball Dive Expeditions. I first dived off Spoilsport in 1989, on its second ever voyage, and have had many wonderful trips on this fabulous liveaboard over the years. The 30m long catamaran is still one of the best liveaboard vessels in the world, due to meticulous maintenance and regular refits. The vessel host 26 guests, has a large dive deck, a spacious dining and lounge area, a large sundeck and even an alfresco party area. The food, staff and service are always first class, and it was no different on my most recent trip.

Each week Spoilsport departs Cairns for a three-day trip to the Ribbon Reefs and then a four-day trip that combines the Ribbon Reefs and Osprey Reef. However, they also offer special trips to the Far Northern Reefs, the SS Yongala and the Coral Sea Reefs. Our trip was supposed to be one visiting the Coral Sea Reefs. However, very weather dependant, being over 200km offshore, these trips don’t always go to plan.

Arriving in Cairns in late December to gloomy wet conditions, the wet season had arrived early, and the forecast was a little iffy to say the least. Boarding Spoilsport late in the afternoon, I met my fellow divers and crew, a mixed group from across the planet. Trip director Keiran briefed us on the vessel and then gave us the sad news that we wouldn’t be spending six days in the Coral Sea as planned, as unpredictable northerly winds were forecast. Thank goodness we still had the all-weather Ribbon Reefs as a fall back.

IMAGE BELOW - DIVER AND POTATO COD

WONDERFUL RIBBONS

Overnight we travelled 150km north of Cairns to our first dive site, Summer Bay on Ribbon Reef No.3. There are over one hundred dive sites on the Ribbon Reefs, and new sites are still being discovered each year. This was my eighth trip to the Ribbon Reefs, and this pretty sloping reef was a new site for me. Dotted with coral heads, we had two lovely dives, enjoying 30m visibility.

On the sand was a large colony of spotted garden eels, while above us was a constant parade of pelagic fishes like mackerel, trevally and schools of fusiliers. We explored coral heads, coral gardens and a wall cut with many ledges, finding sweetlips, coral snappers, angelfish, butterflyfish rock cods and many other species.

Although the conditions were calm, with only light winds and no swell, the northerly winds made site selection for skipper Russell a bit of a headache. Most of their dive sites are generally suited to southerly winds, that prevail for most of the year. However, this made the trip extra special for me as we got to dive many sites that are rarely visited, including our afternoon dive at Ribbon Reef No.5 at Clam Beds Wildside.

The wall at this site drops from 2m to 20m and is decorated with soft corals, sea whips and gorgonians. Cruising the wall we spotted grey reef sharks, schools of fusiliers and surgeonfish, a giant moray and few nudibranchs. There was also a great variety of reef fishes, including clown and harlequin triggerfish, hawkfish, wrasse, parrotfish and damsels. I got a wonderful surprise when I spotted a rare male swallowtail angelfish. This species has different colours for the males and females, and this was the first time I had seen this lovely striped fish on the Ribbon Reefs.

The next morning we arrived at Ribbon Reef No. 10. Our morning dive at Coral Kingdom was spectacular with healthy coral gardens, reef sharks, barracuda, turtles and a massive school of bumphead parrotfish. However, other divers saw a reef manta ray, a spotted eagle ray and a rare bowmouth wedgefish. Looks like I went the wrong way on that dive!

Next, we had two magic dives at Two Towers. These two pinnacles of coral rise from 20m to 2m and are surrounded by a reef cut by ledges. We encountered schools of snapper, barracuda and trevally, plus giant Maori wrasse, reef sharks, green turtles and coral trout. The hard coral gardens on the peak these pinnacles are stunning and swarmed with reef fishes.

IMAGE BELOW - A MALE SWALLOWTAIL ANGELFISH

The afternoon and night dive were at another new site dictated by the northerly winds at Pixie Wildside. This was another pretty wall decorated with hard corals. There were lots of reef fish and a broadclub cuttlefish, however I was most amazed to see three groups of swallowtail angelfish, three males and six females. It was no wonder I had never seen these lovely angelfish on the Ribbon Reefs before, as it appeared they like the exposed and rarely dived southern side of the reefs.

After a lovely morning dive at the always spectacular Lighthouse Bommie, seeing a good collection of pelagic fishes, we headed over to the legendary Cod Hole. I first dived this site thirty years ago and it is great to see the coral gardens as healthy as ever and overloaded with schooling snappers, sweetlips and red bass. The famous potato cod are no longer fed, and only two to four are seen on most dives, but they are still very friendly and happy to pose for photos.

Snake Pit was our afternoon and night dive site. It used to be a reliable spot for olive sea snakes, but they are rarely seen in the area now. This large rocky mound rises from 30m to 15m and has lovely corals and lots of reef and pelagic fishes. The night dive was excellent, seeing shrimps, crabs, lionfish, morays, spiny lobsters and slipper lobsters. That evening, after another wonderful meal, we got the great news that we would be able to venture out to Osprey Reef, unfortunately only for the day as the winds were still unpredictable.

IMAGE BELOW - SPINY LOBSTER AT SNAKE PIT

A DAY AT OSPREY

The 120km crossing to Osprey Reef was very smooth, and in the morning we found ourselves at the rarely dived southern tip, called Rapid Horn. Usually, the crew do a shark feed at the northern tip of Osprey Reef at North Horn. We were going to miss the shark feed, however diving Rapid Horn more than made up for this disappointment.

Over two dives we explored a series of ridges covered in dense hard corals that led to the edge of the reef before plunging into deep water. At the drop-off were cruising reef sharks and passing pelagic fish, including schools of bigeye trevally and barracuda, plus mackerel, jobfish and rainbow runner. There were also numerous reef fishes, including a few that are rare or not seen on the Great Barrier Reef, including reticulated butterflyfish, flame angelfish and Woodhead’s angelfish.

We then moved to False Entrance and over two dives explored gutters and the lovely wall at this site. This wall is covered in glorious soft corals and fans, and circling above was a massive school of bigeye trevally. We spotted grey reef sharks and numerous whitetip reef sharks, including a pack of four that were tailing a large giant trevally. I was happy to see a few more unusual fishes, including bluehead tilefish, swallowtail angelfish and a lone Watanabe’s angelfish.

IMAGE BELOW - A RARE FLAME HAWKFISH

MAGIC PINNACLES

Overnight we headed back to Ribbon Reef No. 10, spending the day around nearby Pixie Reef. Pixie Wall was as lovely as always, with lots of fish and a green turtle. While Pixie Pinnacle was a treat for a fish nerd like me. While there were many larger fish to be seen on this tower of coral, I was looking for smaller critters and was rewarded with nudibranchs, flatworms, tobies, boxfish and many pygmy angelfish. However, the highlight was hiding in a hard coral at the peak, a rare flame hawkfish. This all red hawkfish is rarely seen and very shy, and it led me on a merry chase while trying to take its photo.

The afternoon dive at Vertical Gardens was stunning. This rarely dived site is at the southern end of Pixie Reef and drops from 2m to 30m and is covered in the best collection of colourful corals I have seen on the Ribbon Reefs. The fish life was also wonderful with schooling damsels, basslets, fusiliers, surgeonfish and snappers.

Our final day found as at Ribbon Reef No.5, diving another new spot called Crack-A-Jack. This is another classic Ribbon pinnacle, rising from 35m to 10m. A Bargibant’s pygmy seahorse had been found here recently, so I went looking for it. After searching two fans I was very happy to spot this tiny and well camouflaged seahorse clinging to a similar coloured branch. Doing clockwise circuits around this pinnacle, which is coloured by sea whips, gorgonians, black corals and soft corals, we also found nudibranchs, longnose hawkfish, a leaf scorpionfish, dottybacks, tobies, seawhip gobies, a Morrison’s dragonet and a dense school of bigeye trevally.

We then moved south to Ribbon Reef No. 3 to dive my favourite site, the always fabulous Steve’s Bommie. This pinnacle rises from 30m to 3m and is always full of surprises. Over two dives we saw reef stonefish, angelfish, boxfish, giant morays, clown anemonefish, snappers, goatfish, mackerel, trevally, unicornfish and nudibranchs. The big surprise for me was finding a rare possum wrasse under a ledge, a species I have never seen in Australian waters before.

Heading back to Cairns overnight we enjoyed a barbeque and a few drinks. As I reviewed my images I knew it wouldn’t be long before I returned to explore more of this amazing area of the Great Barrier Reef, and maybe next time spend a little more time in the stunning Coral Sea.

IMAGE BELOW - NUDIBRANCH AT STEVES BOMMIE